Notes toward an understanding of human spirituality: vigorous, fascinating, and open to interpretation, not least by Hamer...
Are we instinctively spiritual beings? Molecular geneticist Hamer (Living with Our Genes, 1998, etc.) ponders the question in an intriguing and demanding study.
The author makes it clear that this will not be an enwrapping explanation of spirituality, and that a consideration of the truth of beliefs must await future savants. Hamer is talking about spirituality, per se, as distinct from the precepts and organization of any particular religion. He suggests that spirituality is “a complex amalgamation in which certain genetically hardwired, biological patterns of response and states of consciousness are interwoven with social, cultural, and historical threads.” This mix links objects and experiences with emotions and values; it provides a sense of faith, enlightenment, and self-transcendence. Hamer brings factor analysis and statistical relevance into play; by analyzing and comparing the DNA structures in spiritual people, he argues, “we can identify any sequence variations that track along with the strength of their beliefs.” He discerns a critical role for the VMAT2 gene with a variant containing a C, or “spiritual allele.” This is vital stuff, especially as it pertains to consciousness, and monoamines appear intricately involved. But although Hamer aspires to a popular audience, he often loses the non–molecular biologist with sentences like: “One cluster of neurons is based in the ventral tegmental area and sends its axons mostly to the forebrain, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and a special area called the nucleus acumbens.” At certain critical instances he confuses lay readers, as when he notes that serotonin “elevates mood, an aspect of the perception of sacredness,” then refers to it as “the brain’s ‘feel bad’ chemical.” Nonetheless, feelings, Hamer emphasizes, are instrumental to spirituality—and who would deny that monoamines might play the crucial part?
Notes toward an understanding of human spirituality: vigorous, fascinating, and open to interpretation, not least by Hamer himself.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2004
ISBN: 0-385-50058-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
IN THE NEWS
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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